Abstract:

The US North Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) fishery is one of the most controversial cases of renewable
resource exploitation. Public management of this resource has resulted in substantial public debate. Bluefin tuna is also
considered a culture-specific product, as it is almost exclusively consumed uncooked in Japan. Bluefin tuna is regarded as a h ighquality
product in the Japanese market and is characterized by an unusual marketing system by seafood industry standards. Each
fish is individually inspected for freshness, fat content, color, and shape of the individual fish. The first objective of this study is to
formally evaluate the degree to which price of US fresh bluefin tuna is determined by those quality attributes of each fish, rather
than by just the quantity supplied. This is accomplished using a hedonic model. Further, freshness, fat content, color, and shape
grades are known to vary depending on harvest method, area of harvest, and period of capture. Therefore, as a second objective
we attempt to show how the quality of the US North Atlantic bluefin tuna depends on harvest practices. The third and final
objective of this paper is to combine the results from the hedonic model and production models estimations to find quota
allocations that could result in the highest payoffs to the industry.